On Thursday New Rochelle Housing Authority held a public hearing concerning amendments to their yearly plan. This was necessary because Hud had disapproved of their spending 400,000 for the demolition of public housing (Hartley Houses) which they are turning into nonpublic “affordable housing” (a household must make at least 28,000 to be eligible, which puts it out of the reach of most of the extreme poor and almost all of the homeless).
The public hearing which was held at 11:00 on the 9th (during the workday) featured Mr. Horton the director of the housing authority (and a stenographer). There were five tenants present (NRHA serves 800 family according to their website) including a commissioner and members of the tenants association at one of the buildings. The first thing that I noticed, and that was a point of discussion for tenants was that no one had known about the meeting until right before it. And that many had found out only by calling each other.
A notice was posted in the inner office at 50 sickles, but it wasn’t there as late as Monday night during the monthly NRHA meeting. Meaning that notice was given at the very earliest two days before it occurred. Tenants pointed out that signs were not visible in the other NRMHA buildings. Mr. Horton pointed out that it was put in the Journal news 45 days before the meeting as the law requires, but putting one notice in the paper without any mention on your website, and not distributing flyers in the buildings is not exactly a recipe for transparency.
The hearing was announced at the Monday meeting, but in a very quick, and easy to mishear fashion that didn’t clearly explain what it would be about. Members of the tenants association at the meeting pointed out that they had not heard it mentioned, at which point Mr. Horton citing that since I was there, it had been announced chided “Shame on you”. He may have been joking, but I found it inappropriate.
Reassigning the funds to be used for the destruction Hartley houses was a good first step, and repairs such as renovation of common areas seem promising. But the members of the tenants association pointed out at the meeting that many issues such as a smelly, broken down garbage compactor, disrepair problems with a chimney, a needed paint job in a stairwell, and a leak in the pipes that drips all the way down to the first floor will not nescesarilly be addressed by the revisions. At one point a tenant mentioned faulty railing in danger of falling and Mr. Horton stated that they were “not meant to support the weight of a person’s body.”
Another strange thing is that some estimates of work to be done differ from the source of funding they are being taken from by as much as 20,000. To give an example the replacement of a spill detection system is estimated at 10,000 but the funding source form 2013 CFP is 20,000. The renovation of common areas is estimated to cost about 82,000 yet the money it is being taken from is 100,000. Mr. Horton explained this by stating that since they are just estimates they still need to get exact costs, but a difference of 20,000 is strange. Especially when there are four or five different instances of this.
Members of the tenant’s association I talked to stated (paraphrased) that they feel that Mr. Horton is trying to address issues and fix problems, but when I asked them what the issues with the buildings are I was told “everything.”
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An issue not brought up at the meeting but one of some concern is students at Monroe college coming into the housing authority’s at night and causing noise. Monroe College rents the top floor of the housing garage at the 345 units (which is legal) but the noise creation is not. Neither agency is addressing this. Fortunately the tenants at 345 main streets are finally getting building locks and keys after three years without. Though the replacement fees for the keys are 75 dollars, at least they are getting them.